Rory won’t be happy until he is golf’s top man
RORY McILROY must channel his frustrations in the right way when he tees off in this week’s US PGA Championship.
The Irishman cut a frustrated figure at The Open with his comments about the Olympics, not performing at his best in the Championship and then breaking his club.
He finished in a tie for fifth. But his best golf came with a 67 on Sunday when he could relax because he was out of contention.
Rory sets himself such high expectations, and he puts himself under pressure to fulfil them.
He’s already won four Majors so he can afford to relax a little bit. But what irks him is when he looks at the official World Rankings and sees himself in fourth place.
Last week, Rory was questioned about being the forgotten one of golf’s ‘Fab Four’. Never mind that, he thinks he’s the best player in the world and is desperate to prove that again.
Even at 27, Rory is already defining his seasons by the Majors and so we must do the same. He has to be in contention at Baltusrol, otherwise he’ll feel like it has been a wasted year.
None of the three players above McIlroy had great weeks at Royal Troon. Dustin Johnson is still not at ease playing in the wind, Jason Day battled hard but was undone by a few errant shots while Jordan Spieth missed a host of short putts.
The idea that these four can turn up and dominate every event is a bit far-fetched because golf doesn’t work like that.
There are too many variables, the weather being one of them. It’s not match play like in tennis and, more importantly, there are too many other good players capable of great golf.
However, I couldn’t help feeling that all of them were a little undercooked in links conditions.
It’s no coincidence that seven of the top 10 finishers at Royal Troon had played at the Scottish Open the week before.
They faced the same challenges as the other guys in Ayrshire but they had already done it with a card and pencil in their hand. If Spieth had been in Inverness, he could have adjusted to putting in the wind on slower greens.
Of course, Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson had been at Castle Stuart. But no-one could have lived with the standard of golf the pair produced over the four days on the Ayrshire coast.
The only thing I could compare it with in recent years was Tiger Woods’ performance when he won the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2000 by 15 shots. It was that good.
Stenson and Mickelson would admit they had the best of the weather. But to finish 14 and 11 strokes clear of third place was sensational.
The biggest compliment I can pay Henrik is that he did not play like a man chasing his first-ever Major.
There was no hint of nerves as he sensed it was his time. He was right because he had done everything but win one.
Stenson showed that he has the game to win anywhere, in any conditions. When he gets in that zone, he can thrive on any course, especially when he’s firing that special three-wood of his 300 yards off the tee.
No-one has played better golf and not won The Open than Mickelson. To shoot 63, 65 and two other sub-par rounds and lose by three is incredible.
Phil proved he is still one of the game’s great players and he can challenge for Majors at 46. Hopefully he won’t be too upset and can take his form and confidence with him to Baltusrol.
The last time the US PGA was held there in 2005, Phil emerged victorious.